Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Governor Blanco does a very good thing

Last week, Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco had what was probably her best moment as governor: She vetoed a proposed offshore natural gas port. The liquified gas terminal, a project of Freeport McMoRan Energy LLC, would have been harmful to Gulf fisheries. The governor told officials of Freeport McMoRan that she would be willing to look at a proposal for a closed loop system port.

Blanco said that though many industry officials had assured her the open rack vaporizer port would not harm the environment, their assurances were not backed by any scientific evidence.

Yesterday, Freeport McMoRan announced it would present a proposal for a closed loop system gas port. The company cautioned, however, that such a system was very expensive, and that it would reduce the amount of natural gas available to the public.

Though the closed loop system satisfies Governor Blanco's environmental concerns, she has made it clear that she may veto it, too, if Louisiana is not part of a revenue-sharing plan. However, such revenues would not be part of the federal revenue-sharing plan that Blanco is seeking. She has threatened to obstruct any future oil and gas projects until the federal government agrees to pay Louisiana its share of the revenues.